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PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.
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This week’s episode of WWE Smackdown drew a 1.76 rating, the same rating as last week. Viewership was 2.603 million was also the same as the week before.
The 2017 average was 1.76, so the last two weeks match the entire 2017 average.
A year ago, Smackdown opened the year with ratings of 1.78, 1.79, and 1.92 for an average of 1.83. This year’s average through three weeks is 1.77.
The average rating in December was 1.75, so they’re ahead of that so far this year. They’re below the 1.87 average rating in November, but Smackdown got a bump from the Survivor Series hype and invasion angle. Before that, in October, Smackdown averaged a 1.68.
Keller’s Analysis: Smackdown, to me, has felt like a show on the decline. The roster has been thin, the booking has been terrible, and it just doesn’t even feel like a sincere effort to attract viewers or get fans excited about the product. Raw ratings went up this week, and usually Smackdown benefits from that and sees a similar increase, but that didn’t happen this week. Raw had been going up against football games until this week, though, which explains Raw’s increase. There can be a lag between the product declining and viewership declining, and after the last few weeks of Smackdown content, I wouldn’t be surprised to the show’s rating slide next week unless WWE provides a hook for Smackdown that is advertised during Raw. On Smackdown, there’s just nothing compelling other than what dumb decision will Daniel Bryan make this week. Even A.J. Styles seems to be in the background of the Shane McMahon-Daniel Bryan saga with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.